ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 discusses the argumentative tools used by the European Court of Human Rights in cases concerning end-of-life situations (euthanasia and withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment). In these cases, a combination of tools referring to authority is observed, in particular, reference to the margin of appreciation, owing to the establishment of non-existence of the European consensus, and reference to epistemic authority, as medical knowledge and the experience of medical personnel are used to justify the rationale for decisions to withdraw life-sustaining treatment. Within the deontological argumentation, efforts are made first to identify the State’s positive obligations in the sphere of the protection of life and privacy and incrementing the right to privacy. The European Court of Human Rights also makes use of teleological reasoning by referring to the need to protect weak and vulnerable persons who would hypothetically be exposed to indirect social pressure if the right to die were to become a socially acceptable practice. Accordingly, the argumentation is shifted to balancing private interests of the applicants with the public interest, understood as the interests of groups deserving special protection.
